The Media's Affect on Eating Disorders

Girls have gone wild; and I’m not talking about the ones that are clad in little bikinis and getting drunk out of their minds during spring break. No, I mean the thousands of girls that are letting their body’s wear down to nothing while trying to fit into the tiny image that the media has created. It’s hard for any American, adults and teens alike, to not notice the media shoving beautifully thin celebrities down our throats. When we do not reach the bar that appears to be set for us, it damages our self esteem and skews our way of thinking how we should actually look. These self esteem problems lead to anorexia, along with other eating disorders, which is trapping us in a dark and dangerous dungeon.

Many kids- particularly teens- are concerned about how they look and can feel self conscious about their bodies… (Kids Health). Even though some are afraid to admit it, people care about how others think they look. If nobody cared, then we wouldn’t have magazines filled with popular fads. People conform to what is expected out of them. Look around school and on the streets, you are bound to see more than a few people dressing similarly. The clothing you wear and the make up on your face displays what people see as your personality. “We live in an image conscious culture, which urges all of us (especially women) to improve our appearance. The messages sent by magazines, television, and other media includes ‘buy certain clothes and products; straighten and whiten your teeth; get rid of your wrinkles; and most commonly, LOSE WEIGHT and you will be happy, admired, and loved.” (Mental Help).

No matter where someone goes, one sees it. At the mall where there are posters of models showing off the latest fashions and even mannequins- made super thin placed all over stores displaying clothing that is usually hanging off of them. At the stores, which are filled to the maximum with rows and rows of magazines showing off gorgeous airbrushed models and movie stars showing off their flawless skin and ‘in-style’ clothing. Sure, those who are displayed on the covers are supposed to be people who are deemed ‘role models’ and ‘good influences’ and who haven’t let the fame get to their head, but what are the magazines really showing? They are showing us that these people have more money than we will see in a lifetime, are idolized, and of course are ridiculously pretty or shown in the picture I took “glamorous”. Who doesn’t want to be thought of as glamorous? In a recent poll that so far has 2,636 votes, shows that 87% -2304 votes-of people think that today’s media is affecting their teens body image in a negative way (About: Teens). With being shown what a glamorous and idealistic celebrity looks like, girls strive to reach the potential that they just know is in their future if they just mold to the image the media has set for us.

Along with magazines, there are catalogs that get sent to people’s homes daily. In most households, they can’t go a few days without getting catalogs for every type of clothing: women’s, men’s, teens, horses, dogs-whatever they own-there is a catalog received for it. Sure, they usually throw them away, but most of the magazines get a courteous flip through of the pages to see what is being offered. On those glossy, heavily Photo-shopped pages are girls or young women wearing clothes that sometimes leave little for the imagination. Some of those images tend to stick out in one’s mind; it’s just not realized until later when one is changing clothing, or the next day and getting ready for school, and looking in the mirror-disappointed. The memory of the beautiful model smiling and looking fabulous comes back. Then, look at one’s self, seeing only the flaws throughout their body. The feeling of embarrassment is overwhelming when being compared to those girls, but one can’t help themselves. It doesn’t go through people’s mind that models weigh 23% less than the average woman. The average model is usually 5’10” and weighs 110 lbs, whereas the average woman is 5’4” and weighs 145 lbs (About: Teens).

When the two averages are juxtaposed to each other, the difference really is astonishing. What seems to get to people is that they don’t want to be called ‘average’. Who wants to be average- underachievers? When it comes to weight, it’s more than okay to be average! After all, average = healthy. To calculate one’s Body Mass Index (BMI), one’s body weight and height are taken together to create a magic number. A ‘normal’ or ‘healthy’ weight is considered to be the number 18.5-24.9 and underweight is <18.5. I punched in the numbers of a model’s average height and weight and their number is 15.8 (NHLBIsupport). It’s completely outrageous how people think that being that underweight is healthy! Everyone needs to know that it is better for them to remain within those 5.4 numbers. That is as close to a ‘perfect’ weight as anyone could ever be.

Then there is the biggest output of media ever- television- 24 hours of nonstop advertisements. With new shows constantly being aired no matter how absurd the story line may be, there is bound to be a show that catches at least one person’s interest. When watching TV, it’s hard to just watch for pure enjoyment. Pure enjoyment comes with a high price- commercials. Besides the ones that are playing for 30 seconds interrupting what ever show is on at that moment. The shows or movies are selling things as well. The beautiful people flocking the screen, the prettier and thinner they are, the happier and popular they appear. Those who are privileged have everything they could ever want and usually just float through life. The girls and boys who don’t have money lining their pockets are the ones who struggle in school to be having a lot of friends or to have a boyfriend. It’s not obvious, but once it’s brought to attention that’s all that can be seen. The smart girls and boys are the ones who are in the ‘awkward teenager’ state, while those who may not be the brightest, have a social life that seems to flourish. If it happens on television, then it must be true! Who wants this type of message sent to their kids?

In between all of that nonsense, every fifteen minutes the real commercials come on. Advertisements for make up and clothing, showing off girls who are too thin, but the yearning to look like them is just too compelling. Sandy beaches with people flaunting their perfect bodies in tiny bikinis- their stunning smiles that fuel the fervid fire of wanting to be just like them. People don’t look that deep into TV to understand how unlikely and ludicrous these situations really are, what is seen is the life that they don’t have. In a commercial analysis, it showed that 50% of commercials aimed at girls spoke about physical attractiveness, while none of the commercials aimed at boys’ referenced appearance (Media Family). Moreover, those physical appearance commercials are also aimed at small girls, your little girl is being told that she needs to be pretty to get somewhere in life. Compulsive over-eating, a dangerous eating disorder, has been proven to start in early childhood when eating patterns are first formed (Mirror-Mirror).

All one ever sees is what the media allows the pubic to see. The beauty, and how thin those people are, the adoring attention that they receive, and the one that packs the most punch: that we can never look like them no matter how hard one tries. Nobody sees beyond surface level. Once dug deeper, the problems scream for help. The damage that serious dieting and eating disorders does to our body. For example binge eating disorder, which is defined as “Compulsive Overeating and consequent weight gain…the more weight that is gained, the harder they try to diet and dieting is usually what leads to the next binge…” (Something Fishy). Some of the side effects of this one disorder can lead to much different health problems such as: weight gain, hypertension, fatigue, heart ailments, mobility problems, diabetes, arthritis, varicose veins, hiatal (hiatus) hernia, embolism, sleep depravation, toxemia during pregnancy, high blood pressure, shortness of breath, high cholesterol levels, cardiac arrest (Something Fishy).

Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? When the stress of trying to fit into the perfect world during the day becomes too much for us, we become compulsive eating monsters. Withholding ourselves of food during the day and binge during the dark hours of the night to make up for what our bodies have been deprived of. Some don’t think of Compulsive Overeating as a disorder, but it involves eating and anxiety in the melting pot that is our mind. Even though some naïve people don’t believe it, the professionals do- I trust their opinion more than somebody who just thinks that they know everything about everything.

A more well-known eating disorder is Bulimia Nervosa. Most people associate Bulimia as a ‘binge and purge’ type of disorder, where people eat and then throw it back up. It’s not necessarily that simple, the text book definition of Bulimia Nervosa involves different aspects. People can still suffer from Bulimia even if one of the below signs is not present-

1. Recurrent episodes of binge eating. An episode of binge eating is characterized by both of the following: eating, in a discrete period of time (e.g., within any 2-hour period), an amount of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat during a similar period of time under similar circumstances.Also, a sense of lack of control over eating during the episodes (e.g., a feeling that one cannot stop eating or control what or how much one is eating).
2. Recurrent inappropriate compensatory behavior in order to prevent weight gain, such as self-induced vomiting; misuse of laxatives, diuretics, enemas (the injection of a fluid into the rectum to cause a bowel movement), or other medications; fasting; or excessive exercise.
3. The binge eating and inappropriate compensatory behaviors both occur, on average, at least twice a week for 3 months.
4. Self-evaluation is unduly influenced by body shape and weight.
5. The disturbance does not occur exclusively during episodes of Anorexia Nervosa.

Purging Type: during the current episode of Bulimia Nervosa, the person has regularly engaged in self-induced vomiting or the misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas

Non-purging Type: during the current episode of Bulimia Nervosa, the person has used other inappropriate compensatory behaviors, such as fasting or excessive exercise, but has not regularly engaged in self-induced vomiting or the misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas (Something Fishy/bulimia).

Same as with every other eating disorder, Bulimia Nervosa has its side effects; those include: esophageal problems, vocal chord damage, stomach ulcers, osteoporosis, hair loss, digestive problems, decreased body temperature, irregular heart beat, elimination problems, dental damage, organ damage, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, enlarged salivary glands, dry skin, decreased bone density, menstrual dysfunction, hormone irregularities, insomnia, low red blood cell levels, weak muscles, immune system damage (Bulimia Side Effects).

The most common known eating disorder is Anorexia Nervosa, besides that it has the highest rate of death, people see it as the most obvious. It’s a lot easier at first glance to notice if someone isn’t eating. Studies have shown that 1 in every 10 cases that lead to death are by cardiac arrest, starvation, other medical complications, or suicide. In a study of high school students’ weight control practices, in the seven days before the survey 49% of females and 18% of males had skipped meals to lose weight (Anteau 2009). Just like all of the other eating disorders, anorexia has its many health consequences:
dry skin, sallow complexion, irregular or cease menstrual cycle for females, growth of fine hair over body and face, purple nail beds, cold extremities, hair loss, cardiac problems, dizziness, low blood pressure, fainting, changes in metabolism and energy, malfunctioning of pancreas, damaged kidney, osteoporosis (Anteau 2009).

What people don’t realize is how bad being too thin is for one’s looks. Those who have eating disorders don’t think that they look sick when they can see all of their ribs; they see that excess skin as a flaw and as fat. “Without enough body fat, skin may sag and wrinkle, making you look as if you were ten years older.” Just being ten pounds below your ideal weight is all it takes to ravage your looks (Glamour 2002). So the solution is obvious, to look good and healthy, EAT!

Of course we can’t blame everything on the media, as easy as it is. It’s easier to point the blame at someone else; nobody can bare the thought of possibly having a negative effect on somebody-that wasn’t intentional of course. It has been stated that “From early on, children are taught that their looks matter. Think of the three or four year-old who is continuously praised for being ‘Oh so cute’” (Something Fishy).

I personally know someone who is at a perfectly fine weight and is extremely pretty, but puts herself down because when she was younger, everyone in her family told her how pretty and thin she was, how she was ‘so skinny!’. Now when she sees her extended family they tell her how happy they are to see that she ‘finally filled out’, what other way could a teenage girl take that besides thinking they are fatter than they once were?

How can anybody walk around without a care in the world with having the media shoved in their faces? At any given time, there is an estimated 50 percent of American women on some sort of diet; regularly cutting back to fewer than 1,400 calories a day or limiting dietary fat to less than 20 percent (Glamour 2002). That is just flat out ludicrous. Teenage girls can’t walk with their head held high when they have the expectation to live up to something that they are incapable of. No matter how pretty or thin someone may be there is no way to be perfect, it’s the fact of life, and some people end up dying trying to win that endless battle.

The media gives the false assumption that it takes money and looks to be successful in life, naïve and self conscious people don’t realize what a crock of bull it all is. The media’s job is to sell. They have obviously achieved employee of the year for what they have sold to Americans-young girls especially-that they will never be good enough. The average person in the United States sees approximately 3,000 ads every day between magazines, catalogs, billboards, and television (About: teens). With the twinkling lights and smoke and mirrors advertised to us 24/7, isn’t it obvious that something would stick?